Sunday, March 18, 2012

The Ten Sephiroth of the Kabbalah and the Virtues & Vices thereof

Pending the longer summaries of each separate Sephirah from Dion Fortune's book, here's the best summary I have seen on them by Rodney Orpheus along with the virtues and vices and another tidbit from Dion Fortune. I find it an extremely complicated system to get the hang of for beginners so I hope that I can help others to understand it as I continue to learn more and share my notes with everyone. A major tip: one can not learn about the Kabbalah learning the Sephiroth as separate, they have to be studied as interconnected always. The only way to grasp this system it seems is to keep learning back and forth about the entire Tree of Life until a clear picture comes out of the chaos, it's well worth it.

1. Kether Crown, pure white light, primary source of all within the manifested universe. Has many of the qualities of Hadit.virtue: Attainment Completion of the Great Work.vice: -

Nuit has split herself to create Hadit, and the interplay between them creates the Yin and Yang. (Chokmah and Binah)

2. Chokmah Wisdom. Twoness: None and one. Line of Radiance, connection of tow things that have become separate and the direction of movement between them. Chokmah is the first Wisdom. The sign of the desire of Hadit to peform his Will. Grey. Great Father. Therion.virtue: Devotionvice: -

3 Binah Understanding. Yin (female energy) comes into play to balance the Yang (male). As the Will arises, the Understanding grows to enfold it. Triangle. Greath Mother. Babalon. Takes in all light: Black.virtue: Silencevice: Avarice (greed)

What springs from 2 & 3 are crossbreeds, hybrids, who have lost the essential qualities of their parents. So the 3 highest Spheres are split from the lower Spheres. The Veil of the Abyss:

11. Da'athHanging in the Abyss. Knowledge. logic, thought processes. Duality. Perception without emotion, comprehension without movement, thought in isolation from deeper roots. False crown of ego that tries to hide us from Kether. the true Crown of the Will. Confused child that knows it is lost, but has no Understanding of the way home or Wisdom to seek the way.Demon Choronzon, the demon which lies, argues, debates, confuses aspirants. no color. Rainbow Bridge of Norse mythology. It is not evil (no sephiroth can be good or bad in itself.) Bridge to the supernal Triad. Through Da'ath flow the supernal energies into the sephiroth below. The energy we use comes from Chaos. Directing our True Wills we order it into the patterns that we need. Primary Colors: Blue/Red/Yellow.

6. Tiphareth, beauty, the child that harmonizes the opposing forces 4 and 5. Only Sphere to connect directly to Kether. Harmonize all things. Child of Chesed and Geburah. Yellow. Hexagram. Six pointed, links the triangle of the divine with the triangle of man. The sun in our solar system, the central point around which all revolve and draw light. Sun Gods: Apollo, Mithars, Osiris, Jesus, Rebirth as the sun does every day.virtue: Devotion to the Great Workvice: Pride

10. Malkuth. Final daughter of the marriage of Nuit and Hadit. Earth. No single color like Da'ath. colors: Citrine, olive, russet, black. Earth, fields, plants. Symbol is Cross surrounded by the Circle. Goddesses of olden times that cared for the crops and the land such as Demeter and Ceres.virtue: Discriminationvice: Avarice (greed), Inertia

Netzach, Hod and Yesod, form the Lower Triad, overshadowed by Tiphareth, as the Lower Self is overshadowed by the Higher Self. The four lower Sephiroth form the Personality, or unit of Incarnation, of the Tree, the Higher Triad of Chesed, Geburah and Tiphareth form the Individuality, or Higher Self, and the Three Supernals, Kether, Chokmah and Binah correspond to the Divine Spark.

The Triads are always represented, when once emanated and in equillibrium, as a Pair of Opposites manifesting in a Functional Third. In this, the Lower Triad, then, we find Netzach and Hod equilibriated in Yesod, which is conceived as receiving their emanations. But it also received the emanations of Tiphareth, and through Tiphareth, of Kether, because there is always a line of force working down a Pillar; consequently, as it received also from Netzach and Hod the influences that they in their turn have received from their respective Pillars, it may aptly be called, in the words of Qabalists, the Mystical Qabala "receptacle of the emanations"; and it is from Yesod that Malkuth receives the influx of the Divine forces.